An Ohio church has apologized for an Easter lesson in which a pastor encouraged students to slap, cut and spit on him — incidents that were captured in videos and posted online.Justin Ross is lead pastor at Impact City Church in Pataskala near Columbus. He said the incident happened Monday at an organized hangout session for middle and high school students.Ross said an associate pastor encouraged the attacks on himself as a way to help students learn about Easter and the crucifixion of Jesus."My intention was just to show them how much Jesus loved them," associate pastor Jaddeus Dempsey told WCMH. The Columbus Dispatch reports that several students took the associate pastor up on the offer, and one cut him on the neck. "He's like, 'I don't want you to go crazy with it, but I do want you to slice it down my back and make me bleed,'" 12-year-old Ai'janae Parker said. "I thought it was pretty weird. I didn't like it all."Cellphone recordings of the incident sparked backlash."Jesus did that for us so we wouldn't have to go through it and that's the part I don't understand," Parker said.Her mother said she was deeply disturbed by the video."I couldn't even make it through the whole video before I stopped it and I went right up there to pick her up," Amanda Quick said. "I feel like there are plenty of different ways they could have gone about this."Ross said the topic was important, but the lesson went too far and was inappropriate.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Video from WCMH) —

An Ohio church has apologized for an Easter lesson in which a pastor encouraged students to slap, cut and spit on him — incidents that were captured in videos and posted online.

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Justin Ross is lead pastor at Impact City Church in Pataskala near Columbus. He said the incident happened Monday at an organized hangout session for middle and high school students.

Ross said an associate pastor encouraged the attacks on himself as a way to help students learn about Easter and the crucifixion of Jesus.

"My intention was just to show them how much Jesus loved them," associate pastor Jaddeus Dempsey told WCMH.

The Columbus Dispatch reports that several students took the associate pastor up on the offer, and one cut him on the neck.

"He's like, 'I don't want you to go crazy with it, but I do want you to slice it down my back and make me bleed,'" 12-year-old Ai'janae Parker said. "I thought it was pretty weird. I didn't like it all."

Cellphone recordings of the incident sparked backlash.

"Jesus did that for us so we wouldn't have to go through it and that's the part I don't understand," Parker said.

Her mother said she was deeply disturbed by the video.

"I couldn't even make it through the whole video before I stopped it and I went right up there to pick her up," Amanda Quick said. "I feel like there are plenty of different ways they could have gone about this."

Ross said the topic was important, but the lesson went too far and was inappropriate.